The subject matter of this application relates to wireless networks and more particularly to systems and methods for power-efficient collection of parameters for wireless network data.
A wireless local area network (WLAN) typically includes one or more access points (APs) that provide shared wireless communication channels for use by a number of client devices or stations (STAs). Each AP, which may correspond to a Basic Service Set (BSS), periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish and/or maintain a communication link with the WLAN. In a typical WLAN, only one STA may use the wireless medium at any given time, and each STA may be associated with only one AP at a time.
Due to the increasing ubiquity of wireless networks, when a STA seeks to join a wireless network, the STA may have a choice between multiple wireless networks and/or between multiple APs (e.g., that form an extended BSS). The 802.11k standard provides a protocol for a STA to discover the best available access point at any given point in time using a scanning operation to discover network parameters. In this manner, in a wireless LAN, each device normally connects to the access point (AP) that provides the strongest signal. In a network conforming to 802.11k, if the AP having the strongest signal is loaded to its full capacity, a wireless device (STA) can be made to connect to one of the available and underutilized APs. In this manner, though the signal may be weaker on an underutilized AP, the overall throughput can be greater because of more efficient use of the network bandwidth and related resources.
Because scanning operations may consume a significant amount of power, it is desirable to reduce power consumption associated with scanning and related data-gathering operations.